GTD around the world: observations on different cultural peculiarities?

05-29-2006, 06:54 AM

I am interested to see how people in various international regions relate to GTD's main principles and whether or not cultural differences influence/shape your own application of GTD based on these observations.

Th US, while being a competitive environment, is a pretty well-established economy with arguably little economic fluctuation (markets are fairly stable, unemployment is low, job security is less of a concern than in other countries, etc.). There are many places in the world that are seeing huge economic shifts (Eastern Europe/Russia, China, etc.). There are also places, such as Japan, where it is tough to stay competitive and one has to apply oneself extra hard to remain in prestigious jobs.

Do these cultural peculiarities affect how you apply GTD to your life if you live/lived in one of these places? While I don't dispute the fact that GTD positively alters one's life regardless of your geographic/social/economic situation, I would like to hear from people who are willing to share what hindered/helped them in applying GTD in view of these circumstances and what peculiar observations you have.

Do these cultural peculiarities affect how you apply GTD to your life if you live/lived in one of these places?

Nice to see this discussion here!

While there were surely many factors involved, I attribute GTD when the pedal hit the metal and made a choice to come to Thailand. GTD clearly helped me keep my feet on the ground when I decided to make it happen in less than 2 weeks. Looking back, I made lots of mistakes and left many incomplete projects and loose ends. I have since written them off as a learning experience in transforming the entire context of my life - "mind like water" was my mantra at the time!

One of the first things I did was checkin with a local agent in regards to the Thai translation of GTD. Once I found out it was in the works - it was nice to hear GTD culture was here! Now that was 3 years ago and have yet to see it on the shelf - you could say I've been patient in the spirit of "Sabai Sabai!" In my book, GTD is still here via these forums - so a quick thanks to y'all!

My GTD structures have transformed dramatically - I went from a full-fledged Outlook/GTD Add-in on a laptop, filer, tickler, GTD notebook to a one-sheet mindmapped influenced Franklin-Covey compass, paper calendar, and next action-tagged email on an Office 2.0 desktop.

It would be hard to say that Thai culture or my environment influenced my choices - perhaps, perhaps not. I am on a mission to bring the most innovative of cultures to Thailand and what perhaps is more challenging, sit here like a sponge at get my own culture being a Thai-born American.

For anyone interested, I still have in my backburner, a GTD Binder with tabs translated to Thai I once did as a learning exercise one day and make good use of my Brother PT-65TH